A small bear track.
Despite hoowling wind yesterday, I got lucky with these grouse.
The wind was blowing so hard that I was surprised that the dogs could find a grouse yesterday. We walked the two-tracks where we were safe from falling limbs and trees. The forest roads had lots of limbs and trees in them and we had to double back in the car at one point when we couldn’t get around a tree.
In the morning Birdie was on fire with her style of hunting. She found nine grouse and I had shots at three, bagging two. We were in a cover we had not hunted this year and I chose it because it seemed the safest. In the afternoon after listening tothe Detroit Lions on the radio we took Sid to another cover that always looks like it should be great and has yet to produce more than a flush or two and struck out there. Her style of moving fast looks like she would just race by birds, but that is not the case. I often ask myself if I had to choose one of them which one would it be and I can’t find an answer and I glad I don’t have to answer the question for real. Different styles of hunting produce.
Finally, late in the day we went to pick up two rocks that Lucy had spotted and wanted for her garden. As we pulled onto the trail where they were four grouse flushed in front of us, three going left and one right. After we got the rocks I had to see if I could find those birds and making a big circle to put the wind in the dog’s nose I guessed where they might have gone. BIrdie locked up in a for-sure-the-bird-is-right-there-point and I moved in. The grouse flushed and I thought I missed, but Birdie said I didn’t and brought it back to me. It was a great way to end the last day of our UP hunt.
